Groceries
by Yumi Take
Summary: All main characters have tragic backstories, and he is the main character of this world. - A reflection on Teru before Mob.


A. N. : It was only a matter of time before I wrote something for this fandom... This text was born from thoughts I posted on tumblr. Thoughts I then elaborated in one evening until I got this fic. Which was inspired by my own attempt at living alone.

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The first time Teru buys groceries on his own, he really doesn't know what to do.

He is eleven, and his parents just decided he should live on his own – they say it's safer this way, these "Claw" people won't find him if he stays away from home. He knows they're lying. Sees how afraid they are – _of_ him, not for him – and while he doesn't understand why, he knows it's better if he obeys.

 _(People who are afraid of dogs tend to hate them if they have to stay close and he doesn't want his parents to hate him.)_

The flat his parents got him is nice and clean. It's smaller than home, but he guesses it's normal since he's going to be alone.

His parents say they will send him money every month, more often if he needs it, and that he won't need to worry about anything.

Again, it's a lie, but this time Teru doesn't realize it until he is in the supermarket, alone, with no idea of what one is supposed to buy when living alone.

 _(Alone, but his parents love him, they kept saying that during the whole thing, and Teru really wants to believe that.)_

He buys some sweets – no one can tell him not to now – two carrots – he knows how to cook them, he learned in home-economics – rice, and toilet paper.

This evening, he eats rice with carrot salad and sweets as dessert.

He reads until midnight because no one tells him to stop and go to sleep.

The next day he is tired and he almost falls asleep during classes – it's the first time it happens and he feels terrible.

He buys a bento at the convenience store.

When he goes back to his flat, he eats some more sweets before doing his homework – no one tells him to, but he likes studying, even if he knows it's weird.

 _(But Teru is weird anyway. "Different" as his parents said. He can bend spoons and send adults flying with just his mind.)_

He starts making dinner when he gets hungry. But his fridge is empty, and it's too late to go shopping – he is too young to go out when it's dark after all.

He eats rice. It could be worse, but he already misses home.

That night he has a nightmare and he wakes up crying. He gets up and walks to his door to go to his parents' room – he won't wake them up, he just wants to know they're here –

When he opens his door he remembers he isn't home and his parents aren't here.

He wakes up in the hall the next morning. He thinks he cried himself to sleep there.

 _(He tells himself it won't happen again. It does anyway.)_

At home-economics, he pays attention more than ever. They make curry, and he tries his best to remember the recipe.

He doesn't like curry that much, but it's simple, and he knows it can last for days.

After classes, he goes grocery-shopping. Again, he feels a little lost, but this time he thinks he knows what he wants.

He buys everything he needs for curry, a bento for the next day – he is tired of having to run between the school and the convenience store during lunch time – and soap for the dishes – the pile is starting to annoy him, it's not really high but it's there and it looks bad.

 _(It's the last time he goes without a list.)_

Teru gets tired of curry after a week.

The next thing he buys is a recipe book.

There's a few times when he doesn't eat dinner – he is too tired to make breakfast more often than not, so he doesn't eat in the morning anymore – and one day he faints during PE.

He starts putting an alarm in the evening to remind himself to cook.

One day he doesn't have any clean clothes left. He realizes he completely forgot to wash them – he doesn't even have any cleaning product.

He spends the day with old clothes on and runs to the convenience store as soon as he can.

Except once he's in front of the washing machine – thankfully he has one, he even has a dryer – he has no idea what to do. After an hour of trying to figure out the instructions – he hasn't even started his homework yet, what will the teacher say when he goes to class and he doesn't have anything – he drops to the ground and starts crying.

He can't do this. He is tired and sick of this and he just wants to call his mom and go _home_.

 _(Teru's mom never picks up the phone when he calls. She lets it ring until Teru stops the call. Teru's dad simply rejects his son's calls.)_

 _(It hurts.)_

When the dinner alarm rings, he is still on the ground. He doesn't want to get up but he knows he has to eat. He gets up.

It's only once he holds the cabbage he bought the other day that he remembers he has a neighbour.

 _(She helped him carry his bags up the stairs and asked if he lived alone. Teru didn't like her eyes when she said that, so he lied and told her his parents were away on a trip.)_

He asks her for help with the washing machine, and then she decides to cook for him.

 _(She is a student in arts. He doesn't tell her, but he could have cooked something better than what she did.)_

 _(It feels nice to have someone else in the flat.)_

Teru starts getting used to this life. He doesn't like it, but he feels a lot less lost.

Once every two weeks, he eats at his neighbour's flat. She says she spends too much time alone working and so she really enjoys his company, even if he's just a little brat.

 _(He doesn't tell her he feels the same because it would be strange and also he's supposed to be living with his parents.)_

One day he cuts his finger while cooking and the blood doesn't just stop like it usually does and Teru panics and gets blood everywhere before knocking on his neighbour's door.

 _(She helps him and asks why his parents didn't get him bandaids. Teru doesn't know what to say.)_

 _(She doesn't look at him the same afterwards, and he stops going to her flat.)_

The next things he buys are bandaids and disinfectant.

He fails a test in class once and he never failed before, and it's terrible, he can't have them find out what changed, can't have them pity him – that's what the eyes were, _pity_ –

He falls sick.

For a full day he is in bed with a fever and his head feels like it burst open at some point. He sees strange things on the ceiling.

His room is a complete mess when he gets better, and he knows for sure his powers acted up while he was sick.

The next things he buys are painkillers and instant soup powder.

He decides he won't need them anyway, and he studies more than before, works out, and trains his powers because he hates having a messy room.

He buys cleaning product for the flat.

 _(The next time Claw attack him they can't even land a hit and he keeps one at home for a day to get information.)_

 _(Apparently they are artificial espers.)_

 _(Teru doesn't know what to do with that Claw member once he's done, so he gets him to the roof before throwing him down with his powers.)_

 _(The roof isn't that high so it's okay.)_

Because he worked so much, he is at the top of his class – he was in the top ten before. The teacher seems to like him more.

Some guys don't, though, and they try to fight him after classes.

He hesitates for a second.

 _(If he can scare his parents enough that they don't want him anymore, scaring a bunch of kids won't be hard.)_

 _(He doesn't think about the fact that he too is a kid.)_

He makes them fly upside down until they cry and beg.

Teru realizes he likes that. Likes having people under his control.

 _(That way there's no way they will pity him.)_

 _(He couldn't have done that without his powers and suddenly he knows he isn't just "different.")_

He is " _special_ ".

 _(And that's why his parents were afraid. Because they were just weak commoners.)_

He is the main character of this world.

 _(Claw is the villain and his parents are his tragic backstory.)_

 _(It's alright because all heroes have those.)_


End file.
